A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

You’ve heard that quote before.  I know you have.  I’ve heard it dozens of times in my life but never really gave it too much thought.  I have a problem with taking sayings too literally.  “Ok, that’s great, but I’m not going on a thousand mile journey… and if I did, I would drive.”

But lets really think about it.  Not only does a thousand mile journey start with one step, it’s also made up of single steps.  Small steps that all put together make up a great feat.  And your journey doesn’t have to be a walk.  Maybe it’s paying off debt, saving for a vacation around the world, losing weight, keeping the house clean, finishing college, writing a novel, recovering from an addiction, ect.  Every goal is made up of small individual steps.

No one wakes up one morning and thinks “I’m going to lose 50 pounds today.”  No, it’s small every day decisions that over time accomplish a goal.  Calorie by calorie.  Work out by work out.  Pound by pound.  Until one day in the far future the person stands on the scale a full 50 pounds lighter.  It happens so slowly it’s barely noticeable.  But it does happen.

This is something that I’ve been thinking a lot about lately.  The concept of small steps has really changed my life.  I write this blog post by post.  Pretty much every day I think “I don’t know if I will post tomorrow.”  But then, somehow, I think of a topic and sit down and write.  Some posts are good (hopefully) and some posts are not.  What can I say?  But the point is that writing this blog is something that only happens in small steps.

The trick is to break down large goals into mini goals, and then, if necessary, break the mini goals into micro goals.  Then create your small steps to meet the micro goals.   Don’t look at the project as a whole.  Just keep completing the small steps, celebrate each micro goal, and keep working.

To prove my point I’m going to walk from Phoenix to Boston.  Ok, obviously I can’t really walk it, but I’ve been walking around my neighborhood and I’ve been keeping track of how far I’ve gone.  I’ve been creating a path on Google’s Pedometer and I’m heading for my home town in Massachusetts.  It’s going to take me a very long time.  But I’m going to do it.  I will update my progress once a month.  I’m guessing it will take about two years to complete this goal.  But that’s the point!  It’s not something that I can do in one day, or in one week.  It’s going to take daily action and small steps (literally) to get there.  Putting one foot in front of the other every single day will get me to where I want to be.  Please come along for the journey.

Here is my progress so far.  No I didn’t start at my house, so don’t try to come find me! 

If you would like to set a goal too please let me know and we can all update together.  It doesn’t have to be walking, any goal that has small measurable steps is awesome.

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Here’s this week’s round up.  Sorry it’s late: I wrote it but I guess I forgot to post it.

Hello everyone.   I have my daughter’s birthday party today.  It’s at the park and they were saying we were going to have 45 mile an hour winds.  It’s barely more than breezy right now so hopefully the big winds will hold off a few more hours.

PF Bloggers:

Girls Just Want to Have Funds wrote about cutting back on an already tight budget.

Living Almost Large talks about employee benefits.

Master Your Card gives the rules for financial responsibility.  Something I wish more people had followed.  Seems like our country needs a refresher course.

No Debt Plan weighs investing vs paying off debt.

Our Fourpence Worth reminds us that it pays to be nice.  Literally.

Around the Blogshpere:

Brip Blap asks What does your trash say about you?

My Two Dollars told a story about a guy with a cardboard sign and how he saved the whole town money.

Think Your Way to Wealth thinks it might be the time to increase your 401(k) contributions. I agree, if you are young then you have time for the market to recover.  Get in now while the stocks are cheap.

Trees Full of Money teaches us about Insulated Concrete Forms.  Wow, talk about energy efficient.  Check out the picture of the two houses, one built with ICF and one built with traditional insulation.  Pretty amazaing.

Yielding Wealth talks about the credit freeze, and what it means for you.

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